Over the past year or so, during my frequent intarweb sojourn for interesting weapons, I’ve come across an inordinate number of wooden replicas of otherwise lethal weapons. Now I have to admit that the first time I saw them, I was a bit puzzled. I thought maybe they were safety weapons for the accident prone. Or ultra cheap knock offs. Or something similar.

It wasn’t until I happened to come across a couple of pics of Cosplayers (CosPlay or Costume Play – folks who dress up as anime or movie characters and gather are conventions of the same) wielding some pretty authentic looking weapons, (in wood) that I finally understood. BTW, if you are an anime fan, you might very well be impressed by how realistic these cosplayers look:

I’ve linked the pictures above the to the flickr pages I found them on. Very cool. But more importantly, I realized that all of these folks had to use wooden weapons, since none are allowed to bring real weapons into a crowded cosplay convention hall. Mystery solved!

Also, since it is about Halloween, I thought I’d round up a few of the wooden movie, video game and anime weapons I’ve come across recently for your viewing pleasure. There are actually quite a few out there, but I thought these ones looked the best:

I guess it’s cutting it close for Halloween, but if you plan on being one of these characters, or plan to cosplay any of these characters in the near future, these weapons actually do look good enough to perfect your look. And could save you from inadvertently relieving yourself or a friend, of a limb. Or of sight in one eye…

I received your webpage from another Blade cosplayer. Great shot of me in the Blade gear. One important note I would like to make you aware of…I have been cosplaying as Blade since 2000. When I appear in cons or at local comic stores in my Blade battle gear I display authentic “heavy metal”. I have been to Wizardworld Chicago, Pittsburgh Comicon and Motorcity Con in full battle rattle. I like these shows because there are no restrictions on such devices. If a show or con has weapons policy then I don’t dress up. Blade without a weapon (or three) is just another Black man in a trenchcoat, in my opinion.
The shot of me you have posted I brought the Daywalker sword (shown), the Bloodbath glaive, the replica Mac11 gun, a steel garotte, and a set of silver vampire stakes (heavy weight). Fans of the character love to examine the goods and take pictures with the MainManBlade. All of my weapons are holstered until I pull them out for a photo op.
By the way the tats below the neckline are real. The ones above are not.
Thanks for letting me respond.
Thanks for posting me on your page.
Stay strong
Stay Blade

Hey MMBlade,
Thanks for the reply, I did not realize that there were actually cons that still let you bring live steel in full dress!! I have never been to a con, except perhaps vicariously through the gazillion cosplay sites and galleries in the web, but I keep hearing about how people have to go with replica wood (and blasphemous) cardboard or foam replicas of weapons. So I’m happy to hear that there are still cons with a sense of faith to originality…

And I agree with you 100%. Blade without a weapon (or several 🙂 ) is simply another nondescript black man in a trench… LOL Though now that I know at least the three you’ve mentioned do not have any weapons restrictions, I may go to some of those cons…

Thanks for sharing, please keep it up, people like me do get a big kick out of seeing well done cosplays of our favorites… 😀

I wonder how long it would take me to make a real scythe… I’d have to check scheduals and restrictions and such. I wouldn’t go as any kind of anime or sci-fi character or anything like that, I’d just be a random guy in a white tee and jeans wielding a real kickass scythe.